How He Came to Be: The Childhood of Dr Robotnik
by AAbatterie
Summary: A man sat crying as he stared at a picture of himself when he was a child. That man is Dr. Robotnik. Chapter 5 is up.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Well I'm back. I've taken a darker tone to things, focusing on depression rather than humor. I'm not emo, but when I write, I change my views completely. I might do some humor stories but for now, I will write like this. And this is more of a prologue rather than the 1st chapter in my opinion. The next chapter will all be events that occurred in his childhood.**  
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**How He Came to Be: The Childhood of Dr. Robotnik**

Chapter 1: Prologue

"Hahahahaha! It's complete!" Eggman laughed with delight as he finished his new robot, E-200. Rain was pouring outside, with lightning striking occasionally. His room was completely dark, except for the one light bulb that shined dimly over his workspace.

Dr. Eggman stood up from his chair and admired his piece of work. He grinned, and was determined of finally beating Sonic.

He walked out of the room and the huge mechanical round door shut, and locked itself. Eggman didn't want anyone to touch his work, or perhaps steal it, even though there was not a living thing within miles of his current location.

He passed by a wall with various photos of himself. The photos included some from the newspaper, magazines, pictures of working on robots, and of his childhood. He almost walked past the wall, but turned back to view some of the pictures. He grinned with triumph as a newspaper headline read "Dr. Eggman: Genius or Maniac?"

He couldn't stop smiling. Knowing that he is the smartest being on the planet, as well as the most dangerous, makes him happy.

But one picture caused his smile to fade away. He looked closer, and his eyebrows began to arch downward. He began to frown, and started to clench his teeth. In a fuming rage, he tore the picture off of the wall, and ripped it to pieces. He stomped on the remains of the picture, hoping he could forget his childhood.

But he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, the memories returned to his intellectual brain, and tears began to roll down his cheeks. He sobbed and sobbed, something Dr. Eggman hasn't done in years. He stared at the torn pieces of the picture on the ground, which if put back together, would form the image of a happy little boy, smiling at the camera with his parents, and his grandpa Gerald Robotnik.

And slowly, his dreaded childhood memories came back to him, and reminded him of how he came to be.

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So that was just an introduction to this fanfic. The following chapters will be events that occurred during his childhood. Review please. 


	2. The First Day of School

So here's chapter 2. This chapter was the longest I've ever written, so it took me a while to put up (6 days to be exact). Unlike the previous chapter, this chapter goes back to when Dr. Robotnik was a child. Dr. Robotnik's first name is Ivo, just to inform you before you read.**  
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So please enjoy. Chapter 3 will be put up in two weeks maximum, unless I finish it before the two-week mark.

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**Chapter 2: The First Day of School**

"Ivo Robotnik?"

Ivo sat in his chair, drawing some sort of mechanical design on a piece of paper. He was too focused to hear the teacher call his name.

"Ivo Robotnik?" the teacher said, raising her voice higher than the previous time.

Ivo sat up quickly and raised his hand and, as if the teacher suddenly appeared before him, replied "Here!"

The class stared at him, and a girl giggled in the back of the room. When Ivo turned around, everyone looked back at the teacher as if they weren't staring at him. Ivo looked back at the teacher and shrugged.

The teacher continued with attendance until all of the names were called. While putting away the roll sheet, she announced, "Okay class, today we're going to have a short math quiz, to see if you guys studied over the summer."

Moans and groans echoed through the classroom. "Math? But it's the first day of school!" a boy said. Ivo was still immensely focused on the mechanical design he was drawing.

"Too bad," replied the teacher. She began walking around the classroom passing out the quizzes. When the quiz landed on Ivo's desk, he quickly glanced at it, and then resumed with his drawing. After she passed them all out and stood at the front of the room again, she announced, "You have 10 minutes. No talking. You may flip your papers over. And Ivo, please put that paper away. No drawing in class."

Ivo looked up at the teacher with a blank expression. He sighed, and shoved the paper into his backpack.

He looked at the quiz, and began filling in answers. He never pondered on any of the questions, and answered all of them calmly. He moved the paper aside and retrieved his drawing out of his backpack. He examined, and began penciling in more lines.

"Ivo I told you to put that away," the teacher said in a firm voice. Ivo looked up at her knowing that he didn't do anything wrong, but felt like he was guilty. "Well, um, I finished my quiz."

All of the students in the classroom looked up from their quiz. "Yeah right," muttered a boy.

The teacher looked at him as if she was unconvinced by his statement. "I highly doubt that, let me see your quiz."

She walked by her desk and Ivo handed it to her. The teacher scanned through the answers, and a surprised look overcame her face. She looked back Ivo wide-eyed. "Ivo…. How did you finish it so fast?"

Ivo avoided looking at the teacher, and his cheeks were red. "Well, uh, it was easy? I don't know." The teacher's facial expression changed completely. She arched her eyebrows down, and stared straight into Ivo's eyes. "Did you cheat?" she asked in a very serious tone.

Ivo was thrown back at this question. Instead of his embarrassed state, he became serious. "Of course not, I've never cheated in my life, and I continue to keep it that way. Just because I finished it fast doesn't mean I cheated. There are other reasons for finishing a quiz fast, such as," Ivo made an _ahem_ sound, "being smart."

The teacher was appalled at his arrogance. She gave him a firm stare, then walked back to her desk. As she walked away, she replied back to his statement, loud enough for the whole class to hear, like it was an announcement of some sort, "I would like to see you for 5 minutes after class Ivo."

The class had been looking up from their quiz from the moment Ivo said he finished the quiz. They were all gaping at the situation. Ivo looked back at the class again and everyone quickly looked down as if they were focusing on the test.

Class soon ended and everyone filed out of the classroom. "That Ivo guy is really weird," a boy said to his friend while leaving. Ivo walked up to the teacher, who was waiting patiently at her desk. She was filing papers and writing notes, and while doing this she began talking. "I do not tolerate arrogance and sarcasm in my classroom, do you understand?"

Knowing that she was being very serious, Ivo replied, "Yes," rather than, "Yeah I know." She still didn't look at him and continued with her work. He stood there for a couple of seconds waiting for her to talk again, and it seemed like the wait was endless. She turned to him and looked straight at him with an assuring face, as if she was going to compliment him. Ivo started to feel relieved, but instead of complimenting, her expression turned blank and simply said, "You may leave now."

Ivo was confused, but he turned around and headed toward the door. "Bye Mrs. Parallight!" he said while leaving. She didn't return his goodbye though. As he walked out the door, he realized how long it would take him to make it to History class on time, so he began to run. But after a couple of strides he was out of breath, and stopped to rest. "If it wasn't for you being overweight, you could've made it. But no, you keep on eating and eating, since it's one of the only things that makes you happy."

"Shutup!" replied Ivo silently. His conscience always tormented him about his weight and life in general. After he caught his breath, he began walking toward class. His conscience returned, and said evilly, "Too fat to run? You'll be late for History class now, but it doesn't matter since you're not good at the subject anyway. No one will notice if you're not there either. No one notices you. No one cares about you at all…"

"SHUTUP!" Water began to swell in Ivo's eyes. It's been like this ever since 4th grade. Kids would make fun of him, and he's never had a friend. He began to sob uncontrollably as he continued walking. He wanted it to stop. It was hard enough being overweight, and now 7th grade was as terrible as the previous years at school. Life kept getting worse as he got older.

Ivo controlled himself, and recovered back to normal. As he walked into the classroom, everyone stared at him, including the teacher. One boy whispered to his friend, "That's the weirdo from 1st period."

Ivo headed toward an empty seat, and as he approached it the teacher asked, "And your name is?"

"Ivo Robotnik." Ivo replied as he sat in his seat. All of the students were staring at him again, but he ignored them as if they weren't there. It was the only way he could prevent himself from being depressed and forlorn again.

"Alright everybody, my name's Mr. Brennan, you can call me Mr. B if you want. This year we are going to cover from the years of the Ancient Greeks and Romans to the French Revolution… Um yes?" Mr. Brennan pointed to a boy in the rear of the classroom, whose hand was raised high. He looked very preppy, but in a _cool_ way. The boy lowered his hand and began to speak, "So does this mean we'll be studying Louis XIV, as well as the Renaissance and Enlightenment?"

Mr. Brennan stared at him with awe. He was taken by surprise that a student _actually_ knew something about history. "Um, yes we will. What was your name again?"

"My name's Bobby." replied Bobby. He smiled coolly. His smile wasn't out of place, unlike if it was weird, or an arrogant smile, but it was somehow natural. The class continued, and Ivo dozed off into space. He wasn't very interested in History; memorizing dates and names wasn't fun in his eyes. Bobby kept getting praise from the teacher and his classmates for his knowledge of history. It seemed as if Bobby was popular, something Ivo always wished he could be.

History class soon ended, and Ivo proceeded on to the next couple of classes. After having English and Art class, Ivo went to lunch. He found an empty table in the lunch area, in which many tables were scattered about randomly. As he sat down and laid his paper bag on the table, a group of girls at a table nearby glanced at him. Ivo could feel they were looking at him, so he turned his head to look at them back. The girls quickly turned their heads. After Ivo began to eat his lunch again, one of the girls motioned to move tables, and the rest of them followed.

Just as Ivo began to bite into his sandwich, a voice cried out loudly out of nowhere. "Stop it! Go away!" a girl screamed.

Ivo looked up to see what was going on. Near the center of the lunch area where a large tree was standing, a large boy was standing in front of the crying girl. The boy had brown hair, and was holding the girl in front of him by her shoulders. He stood about a foot above her, and was very muscular as well. He spit on the ground to the side of him and looked back at the girl. "No I think I'd rather stay here. Especially since you look sexy in that skirt," he replied with a cruel smile. He began to move his hand down towards her legs, and firmly felt the front of her body as his hand progressed down.

"STOP IT!!!!!!!" she screamed. She fiercely bit his arm, and his hand immediately detached from her body. She began to turn around and run away, but the boy pulled her back by grabbing her hair. She screamed in pain, and the boy threw against the tree behind him and pinned her so she couldn't move. "You're going to do everything I say, you got that?"

By this moment, everybody in the lunch area was watching. There weren't any teachers or security guards around for some reason, but this was due to a group of kids vandalizing the school at the other side of the campus. A boy began walking to the action of the scene, and as he walked closer, Ivo discovered that it was Bobby.

"Hey Isaac, looks like the only way you can get a girl is by taking advantage. How about you stop messing with her?" Isaac turned around to see Bobby, and laughed at him. "Haha, and what can you do about it?"

Bobby smiled and replied, "This." Bobby punched him square in the face, knocking him back into the tree. Luckily, the girl who was standing in front of the tree moved away in time. Isaac quickly recovered, and began to fume in rage. He began throwing his fists at Bobby, who calmly dodged each one of them. Isaac jumped on him, but Bobby simply moved to the side. Isaac landed flat on the ground face first. Bobby stepped his foot on his back and said, "Never mess with any girl again."

The lunch area cheered after Bobby said those words. The girl who was crying ran over to Bobby and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for saving me," she whispered in his ear as tears dropped down onto Bobby's shoulder.

"I had to save you Naomi. Otherwise that boy would have done horrible things to you." Naomi kissed him on the cheek and blushed. She walked away from him to her group of friends at a table, who all ran toward her to hug her.

_Why can't I be like that?_ Ivo thought to himself. _He gets girls so easily, and is nice too. I'm nice. Why can't I get noticed?_

Ivo's feelings of sadness and anger combined at this point, but Ivo stopped thinking about Bobby to prevent it from becoming worse.

The end of the school day eventually came, and Ivo walked home. While walking, some boys rode by him on bikes and laughed at him. "Hey guys look, it's Ivo Rofatnik!" They rode off laughing their heads off. Ivo began fuming but calmed himself down. He knew it wouldn't be good if he had an emotional breakout again, it would just cause him to be more depressed.

He opened the door to his home, and walked straight to his room. He dropped his backpack on the floor, and fell back onto his bed. Ivo thought about his life, how it was so cruel and unfair, and how people just didn't understand the world. Don't they care? Don't they realize when they're hurting another person's feelings?

_Well, at least Bobby does._ _But everyone else is too incompetent to view from another person's point of view, or consider their actions before taking them._ Ivo thought to himself.

An hour passed by, and the front door opened. Ivo immediately leaped out of his chair, and dropped his pencil on the floor. He was doing homework, but seeing his parents after a rough day was more important than homework.

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad!" Ivo said as he hugged them. His parents looked down at him and smiled. After they stopped hugging, Ivo's mom asked him, "How was your first day of school?"

Ivo paused for a second, and then responded. "It was good," he lied.

"Oh that's good." His mom walked into the kitchen, and poured herself a glass of water. Ivo returned to his room and resumed working on homework. His mom walked in holding the glass of water, which was half full. She noticed a peculiar contraption in the brightest corner of the room. "What is that thing over there Ivo?" she said while pointing at the object.

Ivo turned around from his homework and looked at the corner. "Oh that's an invention I'm working on," he said.

"Well what does it do?"

"Oh yeah, I'm trying to make it be like a calculator except you can speak the equation to it, and it will reply with the answer. I'm still working out the bugs in it, so it'll take a while. It still can't register the difference between 'five' and 'divide.'"

His mom smiled. "Ivo, you're just like your grandpa."

Ivo's eyes shined brightly. "You mean Grandpa Gerald?"

"Yeah, when I was still a kid, he was making contraptions and whatnot all of the time. I remember he made a television that could move around to your own commands, it was incredible." She paused, smiled, and took a sip from her cup of water. "You know, he's up in space right now, doing something on the ARK. I can't believe how he still has the energy to do all that stuff."

"Well I guess I better not bother while you do your homework, so I'll leave you alone." She left his room and shut the door behind her. Ivo was still happy that he was compared to Grandpa Gerald, since he was such a famous and great genius as he is.

Ivo finished his homework and immediately jumped onto his bed. He was tired, and slowly fell asleep, forgetting about the hardships he would have to endure at school the next day… and the next…

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So how was it? My writing needs a bit of improvement, like in the fight scene and other scenes, so sorry about that. And Bobby is a very significant character to this fanfic. Just wanted to let you all know that. 


	3. The Hatred of Blue and Speed

Sorry about the delay. Anyways, here's the chapter. It's about 1,300 words long, considerably shorter than my previous chapter. This chapter also explains a lot of things about Ivo in his present life. Well, maybe not a lot, but it does explain.

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**Chapter 3  
The Hatred of Blue and Speed  
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"Okay class does anyone know what the distance formula is?"

A hand shot up in the air, but the teacher sighed.

"Besides Ivo?"

No one raised their hand. Most of them were doodling on a piece of paper or whispering to their friends. The teacher gave another sigh and lazily pointed to Ivo.

"Rate multiplied by time equals distance. Which basically means if a car is traveling 50 miles per hour, and travels for 2 hours, it traveled 100 miles."

"Good job Ivo. Now we're going to do a lab using the distance formula, so hopefully you all paid attention to Ivo's explanation. Can someone pass the papers out?"

It's been three weeks since the beginning of school, and Ivo began to like it. Although some students still laughed at him and bullied him, there were two things that motivated to school. First, there were the interesting classes of math and science, and second, there was Naomi.

Naomi had been sitting next to him during science class, due to Mrs. Pepper's seating chart. After the incident that occurred on the first day of school, he began to talk to her more, and became more interested in her. Both of them loved science, and Naomi said that she enjoyed inventing in her spare time also. To Ivo, it seemed like he finally found a girl. But he knew he would never have the nerves to ask her out. Anytime they talked about anything besides science, he froze on the spot and butterflies would begin taking flight in his stomach.

The labs landed on the table, and Ivo picked it up quickly and read through it. He immediately could tell that the lab would probably take 5 minutes, considering how easy it was. He looked at Naomi to see if she was done, but when he looked up, her eyes were gazing back at his. He immediately looked away and his stomach did a backflip.

"This seems pretty easy Ivo, we should be done in 5 minutes," said Naomi, as if the glare between them never occurred. Ivo looked up at her, to see that she was smiling. She looked back down at her paper, and began writing her name on it. Ivo looked back down at his paper and began to calm down.

As they began filling in the answers on their lab paper, Naomi asked a question to Ivo, but it wasn't about science. "What kind of movies do you like Ivo?"

Ivo froze at the question. He has never seen a movie in his life. Besides homework, all he did was tinker with mechanical objects, or invent things.

"Um, well, I don't watch movies." Ivo blushed. He turned his face down to the paper, hoping she wouldn't notice.

"Really? Wow that's… different." Naomi avoided saying weird because she didn't want to offend him. "We should go see a movie sometime. I mean, you _need_ to see a movie."

Ivo froze. Is she asking me on a date? _No, don't think that Ivo, you're just friends, and you don't want to destroy your first friendship do you?_

"You know who really watches a lot of movies is Bobby. I've gone to the theatre many times with him."

This comment made Ivo shudder. Although Bobby was really nice, and has never picked on Ivo, he still hates him. Mainly he is jealous; since on the first day of school Naomi kissed him, and he can pretty much get any girl he wants. But Ivo knows that he shouldn't hate him because he's never done anything to him, and is possibly the nicest guy in the school, but he still feels a tad of jealousy toward Bobby.

After Science class, Ivo had P.E., which was his last class of the day, and his least favorite also. Everyone had to wear blue uniforms, which Ivo hated, since blue was his least favorite color. His favorite color is red, but in P.E., it wasn't. This was because Bobby wore red shoes, and when someone who you envy and despise wears your favorite color, you dislike them a little bit more.

After the class got dressed, they went to the field to see what they were doing today. After Coach Mitchell took roll, he began to explain the details. "So for today, and every next week on Friday, we will run a mile. You will be timed and your times will be recorded. The only circumstance is that your time has to be less than 12 minutes, otherwise you fail and must run the mile again. So please, please don't screw around."

Ivo gulped. He knew he couldn't run a mile. He knew he could only take a couple of strides before he would start walking. Meanwhile, Bobby was kneeling down to tie his red shoes, and everyone was looking over him. "How fast do you think you'll run it Bobby? I heard you're the fastest guy at school," a boy asked.

"Well, I've ran it in 6 minutes before, but I'm aiming under 5:30." Sounds of people awing in amazement echoed through the class. Ivo grunted. He hated how Bobby was so fast, and his blue shirt and red shoes made it even worse. The class lined up along the track, and Coach Mitchell took the stopwatch out of his pocket. "It's four laps around the track, ready, go."

Everyone began running, but it was difficult since everyone was so close to each other. As the running progressed, some students fell behind from the group. Most significantly was Ivo, who stopped completely and was gasping for air. He leaned down and put his hands on his knees so he could rest. Meanwhile, Bobby was way ahead of the pack, and was three quarters of the way around the track. He was approaching Ivo steadily, and was almost at the point of overlapping him. Ivo couldn't accept Bobby passing him, especially since Naomi was in his class and could be watching him at any moment.

He began to run, and as he looked back to see Bobby approaching, he sped up. Soon Bobby was running side by side with Ivo, and Ivo ran as hard as he could to keep up with him. His head began to ache along with his ears, since he was pushing beyond the limitations of his own body. He suddenly realized that Bobby was a lap ahead of him, so he began to push even harder. Even though his whole body ached, especially his legs, Ivo began to run ahead of Bobby by a couple of feet. But then Ivo threw up, and fell onto the ground, and blacked out.

"Ivo… Ivo… are you awake?"

Ivo blinked. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the ground, with Bobby kneeling next to him. Many other students were hovering over him. "Um, yeah I'm fine."

Ivo sat up, and got up from the ground. He wiped the dirt off of his shorts with his hands, and then Coach Mitchell confronted him. "Ivo, I'm not going to make you run the mile again, but please, _please_, don't overexert yourself on the mile. If it takes you 12 minutes to run it, then take your time. It's not a race."

Ivo looked away from Coach Mitchell and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah I know."

"Okay then," he said. Coach Mitchell turned around to the class and dismissed them from 6th period. Everyone walked toward the locker rooms exclaiming with happiness. Ivo was the last to enter, and changed back to his clothes as everyone left the locker room.

Ivo walked home, and went straight to his room. He dropped his backpack on the floor, and pulled out his homework. Without much hesitation, he finished it quickly and stuffed it back into his backpack. He got up from his chair and grabbed the calculator prototype from the corner of his room, and brought it back to his desk. While fixing the screws and whatnot, he thought about Naomi.

_Do I have a chance with her or not? I mean, I don't want to be weird and ask her out, she won't talk to me if I do that._

Ivo sighed. Girls were more difficult than any operating machine that existed. If only a miracle could happen…

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R&R please. Hopefully I can get chapter 4 up in two weeks or less. No promises though. 


	4. New Exterior, Same Interior

Sorry for the wait everybody. School has been loads of homework for me, and I do have other things besides fanfiction. But I am more motivated to write thanks to your reviews.

Anyways, here's what you have been waiting for. Expect one more chapter of happiness. Then tragedy begins.

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**Chapter 4:**

**New Exterior, Same Interior **

Light was shining through the window, and the room was warm with rays of the sun. But it was still chilly outside, and the cold days marked the beginning of January. Ivo was still asleep in bed, but eventually he would wake up, like everyone else does in the morning.

For the past few weeks, Naomi and Ivo's friendship has grown to being best friends. Although Ivo secretly likes her, he can never admit to telling her.

His hardships at school had faded also. Bobby has been beginning to talk to him more, and they have become good friends, although Ivo is still jealous of him. But because of him and Bobby's friendship, students have started to respect Ivo. But occasionally when Bobby isn't around, guys would still tease him and make fun of him.

Ivo rubbed his left eye, and then stretched his arms while yawning. He blinked rapidly and turned his head toward the window where the sunlight came through. He gazed at it for a moment, and smiled. _What a great start to a great day_, he thought to himself.

Ivo sat up and pulled the sheets off of him. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. He pulled some cereal out of the cupboard and poured it into a bowl. Usually Ivo would groan at eating the same thing over and over, but today was different. This was the day Naomi was coming over.

Naomi insisted on Friday that she should come over and have him watch a movie. Ivo attempted to deny the offer, since he felt it would be the most nerve-racking experience ever. But Ivo gave in, and now she was coming over. Ivo finished his cereal, went back to his room to get dressed, and then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. While going to the bathroom, he stopped before a mirror that was in the hallway.

He admired himself. Ivo has a very built body now, with a 6-pack included. Ever since he started hanging out with Naomi, he would come home everyday to work out. He was so motivated to win her heart, and he thought he could surely win her if he lost some weight. He's actually delayed his work on his calculator invention, since he thought looking good for Naomi was better.

After Ivo brushed his teeth, Ivo went to the living room to watch TV. As he walked in, he saw his mom walking out of the office. As she passed through the living room, she reminded Ivo, "You know we're having a going away party for Maria at 3 o' clock right?"

Ivo spun around and his jaw dropped. "What?!?!?"

His mom was still walking and her response echoed from the kitchen. "Well, you know, with her going to stay at the ARK with Grandpa Gerald and all."

"When did you tell me this?!?!" Ivo asked urgently. He was so confused; the news was so shocking, he didn't know what to do. They absolutely destroyed his plans with Naomi.

"I thought I told you two weeks ago. Why are going off about it?"

"Well, I had plans." Ivo said quite firmly.

"Like what?"

"Well Naomi was coming over…" Ivo mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"I said, a friend was coming over!" Ivo said loudly. His mom was still in the kitchen so he had to speak loud to be audible.

"Who's coming over?"

"N-N-Naomi," Ivo said softly.

"Who?" His mom asked, as she walked back into the living room so she could hear him better.

There's no way Ivo could avoid this one. He would have to tell her. "Well, um, Naomi was coming over."

His mom stopped squinting her eyes and wondering whom it was. Instead, she smiled. "Wow Ivo, I never knew you had a girlfriend, guess all that working out made you a ladiesman."

Ivo blushed, but then said sternly, "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a friend!"

His mom gave a small chuckle as she turned around and headed towards the kitchen. "Okay Ivo, she's _just_ a friend."

"No Mom I'm serious!" Ivo said as he ran after her.

"Okay,_okay_ settle down, I'm just kidding Ivo." His mom resumed with cutting tomatoes and preparing for the party.

"But Mom, what about Naomi? She's coming over at 2:00 and the party starts at 3:00! What am I gonna do?"

"Well she can stay for the party Ivo, it's not that big of a deal. We probably need more people considering all of this damn food we got," she said as she looked around the kitchen. On the counter were stacks of fruits and vegetables, along with chips and other snacks. The top of the table was barely visible since there were many bowls, plates, cups, and napkins arranged on it.

"But I don't think that's going to work Mom, she was coming over to watch a movie, she doesn't know anything about a party!"

"It will be alright Ivo, we can tell whoever comes to drop her off that there will be a party. I'm sure her parents will be all right with it."

Ivo looked at the ground and sighed. "Okay, I guess so."

Ivo walked out of the kitchen, before his mom could ask why he felt down about it. Ivo knew he couldn't handle Naomi being there at the party. It would just be too awkward for him. Would she be comfortable with his family at the party? Would _he_ be comfortable with his family?

Ivo entered in his room and dropped down onto his bed. All of these questions raced through his mind, and Ivo just couldn't handle it. He decided to work on his calculator invention, which he named the I-1; I for Ivo, and 1 for being his first invention.

He picked up the I-1 from the corner of his room and set it on his desk, and the working and tinkering commenced.

Ivo looked at the digital clock next to his desk. It was 1:55. Ivo just wanted Naomi to arrive already; the wait was making him crazy. _Maybe I should have made the time earlier,_ he thought to himself.

A ringing sound from the doorbell echoed into his room. Like the sound was an impulse to his brain, Ivo immediately dropped his screwdriver, forgot about the I-1, and ran to the front door as fast as he could. He sprinted out of his room and down the hallway. He was within twenty feet of the door before his mom stepped out in front of him to open the door.

His mom opened the front door, and smiled at the Asian girl that stood there. "Hi, you must be Naomi, Ivo's right inside-"

Her dialogue was cut by Ivo crashing into the wall next to the door. He was running so fast that he didn't have time to slow down. His mom looked down at him with a worried look, "Ivo are you okay?"

Ivo sat up and rubbed his head with his hand, while he clenched his teeth in pain. He pushed his hand against the wall to support himself up, and he ruffled his hair with his hands, hoping his hairdo wasn't ruined.

"I'm fine, Mom, I'm fine. Hey Naomi." Ivo turned his head slightly away from Naomi when he greeted her. Naomi stepped inside, and was looking around at the walls. "Wow, you've got a nice house." She began walking down the hallway while she observed.

"Thanks," he replied. He walked fast to catch up with Naomi, and they began talking.

"So what movie do you want to watch?" asked Naomi.

Ivo sort of turned away at this question, and scratched his head nervously. "Well, um, yeah about that. Well, it seems that we're throwing a party for my cousin, so we won't be able to watch a movie."

Ivo looked at the ground, anticipating for an answer. He expected her to be pissed, but she said, " A party? I love parties! Is it a birthday party or what?"

Ivo lightened up and was happy that she wasn't mad. "Well she's going to go up in space, to the ARK where my Grandpa Gerald is working. She has no parents, so she needs somewhere exciting to stay, and Grandpa Gerald insisted on letting her come."

"What happened to her parents?"

"Well, um, they passed away in a car crash seven years ago. Since then she's been staying with her uncle."

Naomi's voice dropped in tone, much like how a person who would feel sympathy. "How sad."

"Well, in addition to that," Ivo looked around to see if anyone was in the hallway, and his voice dropped in tone, and he whispered, "she has an illness called the Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and she's going to the ARK so my Grandpa can develop a cure. She doesn't know about the disease yet though, my Grandpa is planning on telling her when she arrives at the ARK."

Naomi was staring at the ground, and was quite in shock from all of this. "It's so sad how some people aren't as blessed as others. It really makes us appreciate our lives more."

Ivo didn't know what to say, so in a sympathetic tone he replied, "Yeah."

"Woohoo! Partay for Maria!"

The house was filled with music, yelling, laughter, and singing; and Maria was in the middle of all of it.

They were all in the living room, and streamers were hanging from the ceiling. Ivo, Naomi, and Maria were playing Twister in the middle of the room, with Maria's uncle spinning the colors. Ivo's mom and dad were in the next room, singing and dancing along with Aunt Marie and Uncle Edward. The rooms were pretty much one room though, since there was no door between them.

Meanwhile, Ivo's cousin Andrew was in his room playing video games, his Uncle Rik was in the bathroom, and his Aunt Catherine was in the kitchen preparing dessert.

"Naomi, left hand, red!" said Maria's uncle. Naomi looked around on the mat and saw that the only place to put her left hand was the red circle that Ivo's hand was already on. She reached out and placed her hand on top of Ivo's. Ivo blushed, and turned his head slightly so she wouldn't see.

The party was extremely chaotic, but in a fun way. Everyone's happiness was causing the chaos, and Maria loved every bit of it.

The craziness died down after a while, and everyone gathered in the dining room for dinner. Maria was sitting at the head of the table, smiling at everyone as they sat in their seats. Everyone was seated except for Aunt Catherine, who came hustling through the door with a chocolate cake.

She placed the cake on the table, and ran back around to her chair. As she was pulling her chair forward, she said, "Okay everyone, let's give a toast to Maria!"

Murmurs of "Yeah!" were audible as everyone raised their glasses to the center of the table.

Aunt Catherine stood up, cleared her throat, and began her speech. "Our dear Maria. I remember when Maria was just a little girl. She was a cutie, except she could be quite the brat sometimes."

Aunt Catherine laughed as the rest of the table laughed with her.

"She was always curious about everything. She would see how long it took for water to evaporate at different temperatures. She would see the different growth rates of plants in different conditions. And now," her voice cracked slightly, but she caught herself so nobody would notice, "she is going to the ARK to stay with her Grandpa. And although we know you'll be having lots of fun, we'll miss you Maria."

Murmurs of "Aww" and "We'll miss you Maria" echoed through the room. Everyone's glass clinked each other. Maria was beaming, shedding off the light to everybody else.

And after Maria's party ended, Ivo laid in his bed thinking once again. _If only Maria knew why she was really going,_ he thought. And at this speculation, Ivo cried. His pillow became wet with tears, and he cried himself to sleep. But as many days passed, he never thought he would cry again. Never.

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Read and review please. It lets me know if you want me to continue or not. 


	5. Dusk to Dawn

So it's been almost a year, and I've finally posted the next chapter. It's a miracle. And it's all thanks to rayzorbudgie. This is for you.

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**Chapter 5:**

**Dusk to Dawn**

"And so we put the toy snake in the basket, and when she looked in it, she fricken screamed! Dude you just had to be there!"

Ivo and the others laughed as Paul was telling his story. After he was done, Paul asked what they did in English class. While Bobby informed him, Ivo looked at his watch, and realized he was going to be late to class. Even though his friends were still talking, his next class was on the other side of campus, and he had to start walking earlier than the other guys. Ivo turned around and said bye to them as he walked to Chemistry class.

Ivo's life has changed dramatically during the preceding years. Ever since he started high school, he has made many friends, and has been happier overall. Maybe it's because people are more mature in high school, or maybe it's because he has finally broken out of his shell. Whatever the reason, Ivo's life couldn't be any better, except for the fact that his love for Naomi was still unrequited. They were still good friends, but it's hard to stay friends with someone you love, especially when you've been enduring it for a couple of years like Ivo. But overall, sophomore year in high school has been going well for Ivo, and that's all that matters to him.

After 3rd and 4th period, Ivo went to his usual eating spot for lunch. His group sat behind the library against the wall, with a tree in front of them on the grass providing them shade. Ivo, Bobby, Paul, Naomi, and Kristen (Naomi's friend) all sat there together. A bunch of noisy freshmen were playing hacky sack on the grass several yards in front of them, and caused Paul to start conversation like he always does at every lunch. "Hey, do you guys remember when we were like that?"

"Not really," replied Bobby as he took a bit of his sandwich. Paul turned towards everybody, "Oh come on! Don't you guys remember when we were loud and annoying like that?"

"Um, I think that was just you Paul," replied Ivo while giving a little chuckle. Paul was always the real talker in the group, and loved attention. He was quite funny sometimes too. Paul's face was filled with outrage. He began to argue that they were lying when Naomi finally broke in and asked him, "Can I have a piece of your sandwich?"

Paul calmed down and laughed at himself. He handed her the sandwich, which she took from him while grazing his hand during the process. Ivo felt a little jealous.

After school, Ivo began his walk home like he always like he always does, when he heard his name being called. "Ivo, wait up!"

He turned around to see Naomi running toward him. She was dressed out in yellow running shorts, and a red shirt; the colors of their school. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and the beads of sweat rolling down her face glistened in the sun. It was almost as if all the sunlight in the world was radiating from her. She walked up to him with a smile, and Ivo knew right then that there was something more beautiful then any piece of technology.

"Hey Ivo, can I ask you something?" Naomi said as she approached him. "Um, yeah, of course!" Ivo replied. Anticipation was rising, Ivo was getting butterflies in my stomach. _Is she going to tell me she likes me?_ _Did I put too much emphasis when I said of course? What am I supposed to do??_

"Well, I kind of like Bobby, and I was wondering if you could ask him if he likes me back. Do you think you can help me?" Ivo's mind went completely blank. He replied with an empty stare. "Um, Ivo?"

"Yeah, sure, o-of course. That's what friends are for right?" Ivo gave a weak smile. Naomi smiled back. "Thanks Ivo, you're always there for me when I need you. See you later!" She waved at him as she walked away. Ivo stood there, appalled at what just happened, confused about what just happened, angry about what just happened, and was not sure what to do after what just happened.

He walked home. He was pissed at Naomi. He wanted to tackle Bobby and punch and kick him as many times as he could. Everything was turning upside down and inside out. _How could she do that? At one moment she elevated me to the height of the sky where I was floating with the clouds, and then she flung me down into the impressible earth. Why?? Why?!_

He arrived to an empty house, fuming through the hallway, salty tears running down his face. He threw himself on the bed, and buried his face in the pillow. He finally knew the bittersweet taste of rejection. He got up to get some water, and noticed himself in the mirror. The sight made him cry even harder. His glossy eyes, red with emotion, his quivering lips, and the picture of him sobbing uncontrollably was just too much to handle. He turned away, and threw himself on his bed once more.

An hour later, his eyes were dry with tears, and he was finally able to sit himself straight. He sat down at his desk doing his math homework, and was trying to avoid thoughts about Naomi, even though it was seemingly impossible. Eventually he was just trying to do things that would distract him from Naomi. He tried reading, but it failed. He tried listening to music, but his thoughts drowned out the noise. He tried to work on his new invention, the I-2, but he just stared blankly at the machine as thoughts emanated from his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and he couldn't stop feeling depressed and lonely.

...

The next day went by slowly for Ivo. Nothing really made him happy anymore. Now that Naomi was out of the picture, there was nothing left for him. He walked down the corridors to his next class, slowly dragging his feet. None of Paul's jokes made him laugh, and eventually Paul punched him in the arm to see if he'd react.

Ivo just couldn't take it, so he swerved towards him and pinned him against the wall. All of the students walking by glanced at them, hoping a fight would break out. Paul was terrified, since he's never seen Ivo act like this before. Ivo was still pinning him firmly against the wall, and his face was angry. But suddenly, his eyebrows relaxed, and his hands slowly let go of Paul's shoulders. Ivo's mouth dropped open, surprised at what he just did. "I... I'm sorry." His face was sorry and confused, and he ran off to the bathroom to recollect himself.

He hoped no one would be in there, and luckily there wasn't. He went over to the sink and splashed water on his face. He felt the cool liquid trickle down his hot skin. _What has happened to me?_ _What am I doing?_

Naomi began to bounce around his head again, and he just couldn't take it. He firmly grabbed hold of his head and jerked it back. Suddenly, a guy walked into the bathroom. He looked at Ivo, arched his eyebrows, and then quickly looked away as he walked to one of the stalls. Ivo looked back at the sink, splashed some more water on his face, and ran out to his next class.

Ivo packed his stuff into his backpack as the lunch bell rang. He swung it over his shoulder and walked out the door. He went to his locker, turned the dials of the lock, and opened it up to grab a brown paper bag filled with food. He set his backpack down, put in two of his textbooks, slammed the locker, and swung the backpack over his shoulder again. As he was walking, someone shouted, "Hey Ivo!" from behind him. He turned around to see Naomi running towards him waving her arm in the air.

She slowed down as she came close, and stopped next to him waving her hand at his face. "Hey Ivo, did you ever ask Bobby about me?" Anticipating an answer, Naomi stood there staring at Ivo's eyes. "Um, well, no," he responded blankly.

She smiled. "I know," she said. Ivo looked at her confused. "What?"

She laughed. "No, I asked him this morning and... well.. he said he didn't like me." Naomi stared off into the distance, avoiding Ivo's eyes. Ivo's stomach felt lighter all of a sudden. "Well, I'm sorry," even though he wasn't.

She smiled weakly, trying to pretend it was nothing. "Oh it's okay, I guess it's just how life is. Maybe he wasn't meant for me you know?"

_You bet he wasn't_, Ivo thought to himself. He was smiling now, since Naomi was back in the picture. "Well let's go meet the rest of the gang," Ivo said. Naomi chuckled as they walked to lunch together.

Everything was normal again. Ivo could look at Bobby and not feel envious. He could laugh at Paul's jokes and joke around with him as well. Most importantly, he could talk to Naomi without feeling teary and sad.

...

A couple weeks have passed, and Ivo is sitting in his AP Euro class. The bell rings, and Mr. Benn walks through the door and closes it behind him. "Okay class, guess what you're doing today?"

"Notes!" Paul cheered. The class laughed, and Mr. Benn shook his head. "Actually, we won't."

The class cheered. Paul stood up from his seat and gave out a big "Whoo hoo!"

"Paul?" Mr. Benn looked at him with his hands in his pockets. "Yes, Mr. Benn?" Paul acting obediently.

"Sit down." Murmurs of laughter came from several people in the classroom. Mr. Benn walked to the front of the class surveying everyone. "Instead of doing notes, we're gonna start on a project!"

Sounds of disappointment followed, with the exception of Paul's "Whoo hoo!"

"Well I'm glad you're excited Paul, because it is exciting!" The class groaned again. "So for the project, you will have a partner and together you will write a story that is related to the European history we've learned so far. It can be about a peasant in England, a soldier in the Spanish Armada, you name it. However, you must use at least 20 vocabulary words from this list. Andrew, will you pass these out?"

Andrew stood up, grabbed the papers from Mr. Benn's hand, and started passing them out desk by desk. As he passed them out, Mr. Benn began talking again, "So you will get to choose your partner, and after Andrew passes them out, you can get up and choose. This project will be due at the end of the week. It must be typed, preferably 12 font double spaced. This is all on the list Andrew's handing out right now."

When Andrew was done, Mr. Benn let everybody out of their seat to choose a partner. Ivo wanted to be with Naomi, but he was worried that it would imply that he likes her, and he doesn't want her to know.

He got up, and saw that Naomi was approaching him. "Have you got a partner yet Ivo?"

"Um, no, I-" Ivo was interrupted as Paul ran from behind him and hugged him. "Back off Naomi, this baby's mine!" Ivo and Naomi laughed as Paul was feeling his hands up Ivo's chest. "Okay okay, that's a little too far," Ivo defended as he got out of Paul's hold.

Ivo looked back at Naomi. "So are we gonna be partners?" _What did I just say?_

Naomi smiled. "Yep let's do it! High five!" Naomi and Ivo threw their hands at each other, but missed. They laughed at themselves.

"What?! You're ditching me for Naomi?!" Paul acting furious, let out a roar. The class stared at him, and then everybody laughed.

Ivo and Naomi looked back at each other. "So do you want to go to York's Place after school, so we can talk about the project there?" Naomi asked.

"Um, sure, I actually haven't had burger from there in a while," he answered. He smiled, and Naomi smiled too.

...

Ivo and Naomi were sitting at a booth in York's Place. Ivo was chowing down a cheeseburger and fries, while Naomi sat there slurping a smoothie, after trying to convince Ivo that she wasn't hungry at all.

"Mmmmm... I haven't had a burger this good in a while!" Ivo licked his lips and wiped the napkin on his face. Naomi giggled. "You got something right here," Naomi said pointing at a spot on her cheek.

Ivo wiped the napkin on his cheek. "Is it gone?" Naomi grabbed a napkin and reached her hand across the table. "I'll do it."

She wiped off the mess and crumpled the napkin up. Ivo gave a nervous smile. Waiters were walking around cleaning tables, TV's hanging from the ceiling were blaring the breaking news. None of this however, was distracting Ivo. It was as if him and Naomi were in their own little world, a small forcefield that couldn't be penetrated.

They set their trays on the trash can and walked out, with the sun beaming down on them. "This was good, we got a lot done," said Ivo.

"Yeah we did." Suddenly Ivo found himself facing Naomi, with their eyes interlocked in a trance so amazing, he didn't know what to do. "We should do this again next time."

"Yeah, we should." They were still staring at each other, but they turned their heads away and blushed. Ivo was the first to look back, and nervously asked, "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Naomi looked up, smiling as her eyes fixed into his again. "That'd be nice."

They walked along the busy street, with the sun shining overhead, an aurora of golden light glistening through the air, and Ivo looked at Naomi and how she reflected it.

* * *

So I'll try to write more frequently from now on. Emphasis on TRY.


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